Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal has blamed the rise of terror in Jerusalem and in Israel as a whole on a “spontaneous reaction to Israeli stubbornness,” in an interview with Sky News Friday morning.

Mashaal, who gave his first interview since Operation Protective Edge in Gaza and spoke from Hamas headquarters in Qatar, blamed Israel and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the security situation, claiming – as other Palestinian Arab leaders have – that Israel’s continuing to build on its own land “provoked” the attacks.

“The Palestinian people no longer have anything to lose in light of the continuation of the occupation and settlements, stealing the land, the attacks on the women and children and the holy sites,” he said.

“The reaction is spontaneous…the Israeli stubbornness, combined with the international impotence in solving the Palestinian issue with a just solution, which gives the Palestinian people their self-determination, and gets rid of occupation…will lead to chaos in the region, not just in the Palestinian arena, but to an open conflict – a blood-bath.”

Mashaal specifically blamed Netanyahu for the lack of peace, claiming that Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s positions on the issues – despite his unilateral breaches of the Oslo Accords and actual incitement against Israel – should be enough for Israel to make major concessions.